The End of Innocence
by Seffie Elaine
Summary: Zack tries his best to live against all odds and his best friend tries to bring him back from the edge of death. Set in and after Zack's final battle. . . Written as an homage to a true hero.


In the end, it was her face that stuck out in his mind. He tried desperately to hold onto any sense of himself or his life, but in the heat of battle there was no such chance for reflection.

The bullets pierced his skin as he dashed and dodged through the now hundreds of bodies that lay passed out on the ground. He knew this was the end, the final stand, and he was proud that not a single corpse would line that dusty cliff until it was his own. Cloud was safe, that's all that mattered. Heroes didn't die grey and aged on beds of death. They fought for what they believed in until the bitter end and right now, beyond all else, he believed in freedom.

Aerith. She passed through his mind as almost a specter of the past. Was life ever that simple and pristine? Somehow as another bullet pierced his body he wasn't so sure anymore. How could such beauty exist in a world that was full of so many bullets flying through the air that it was almost impossible to breathe? She must be a dream, and he the dreamer trying to force himself into disbelief as to the cruel reality that existed around him. Soon, even her face faded from his mind. All there was in the world was the battle, a never ending existence pulling back and forth, him on one end and everything else in existence on the other.

Momentarily distracted by the seeming argent haze the now twilight world cast upon all it touched, Zack looked down at the ground. So much blood. A memory, hazy at best, of a red carpet lining a pristine hall. He shook his head to free his mind from those thoughts and as he did so the world seemed to speed up around him. To everyone else the truth was obvious. He had been fighting since mid-morning, and even a SOLDIER 1st class had his limits. He was dying, so slowly he didn't even notice, still bound to his own world, a mental barrier against what was inevitable.

Somewhere beyond the blond laying away from the blood-soaked reality, beyond the red-head sitting in a helicopter trying desperately to pretend that the search for his friend was more of an inconvenience than a urgent last resort, even beyond the raven-headed suit trying to ignore the fact that his fingers were acting of their own accord, tapping against a desk beside a phone waiting hopelessly for that miracle phone call, sat a young woman in a church, tending to her flowers. Hypnotized by their spell, with all of her will she couldn't force herself to leave. The breeze felt like bullets passing by her face and every tiny sound was like the explosion of rocket mortars right in her ears. "Zack. . ." She breathed in painfully, the only sound she had been able to make in hours.

It was dark now, and the veil of night had shaded itself upon the world. There wasn't much longer, and he knew it. He didn't understand what went wrong. The rules of this world were give and take, but the more he gave the more they came in a never ending swarm taking one small piece at a time until there was nothing left. Once more, he lifted his sword to his head in a gesture that was purely wrote memory as the small holes formed in his skin. His final sight was that of the shining stars and he felt infinitesimally small as his world blacked out into oblivion.

When he awoke the world was still pitch around him, yet a strange mako colored glow filled the sky only being interrupted by the stalks of unkept blond hair that interfered with his view. Blond? He knew this one. . . Who was it, and why wasn't his mind connecting like he felt it should?

Cloud threw what appeared to be their last phoenix down to the side. He had exhausted their cure to the point of degradation of the materia itself to bring Zack to this point, but even leaning over Zack's now conscious form all he could do was shake. ". . . Zack." The word itself didn't sound impressive, just a reaffirmation of a statement of being, but for what he couldn't portray with his voice was filled in with the horror lining his face.

"Cloud." Zack tried to lift his head to nod, mostly as a tip of his hat to himself for finally being able to recognize his student; his friend. It was raining now, as if it were washing away his existence one drop of blood at a time. He knew his time was short, and he needed to make sure he left this world in proper hands. If he couldn't do it himself he'd leave it in the hands of the only person left to trust. "For the both of us." His voice was strong, willing the last of what strength he was able to borrow from the effort Cloud had put into pulling him to the tipping point of the edge to say what he needed to say.

"Both of us?" Still confused, Cloud wasn't even sure how they got to this point, let alone what Zack was trying to get across.

"That's right." Zack was practically beaming. He was so proud of Cloud in that moment, overcoming all odds with the mako poisoning and coming out on the other side. He knew the whole time his friend would be able to handle the process to make SOLDIER, and in his mind Cloud had already passed the test with flying colors. "You're gonna. . ." There was a hitch in his voice. He needed to pull past it, stay strong and able until the end, so he pulled a long breath to steady himself and started over.

"You're gonna," Zack started as he threw his arm around Cloud's neck. There were so many things he wanted to say. Cloud's face was filled with so much confusion and fear, and all he wanted to do was make all that go away. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible, so he'd do his best to teach Cloud to be strong in the last moments they had together. He continued speaking as the weight of lifting his arm became too much, pulling Cloud's head down into his chest to better feel the reality of that moment. "Live."

They stayed like that for a long while. To Zack it felt like an eternity, his fingers digging into Cloud as a last ditch effort to keep the fading edges of darkness at bay. It was futile, but even in the end he couldn't give up hope. "You'll be my living legacy." Like he had been to Angeal, the process would continue. Cloud would live, keeping all of his dreams and honor alive even if his body refused to go on. He wished he could keep holding the blond. He knew the boy wasn't okay, and wouldn't be for a very long time, but it was his time to move on and he could feel something begin to pull at him as if it were trying to usher him someplace else, so he let his arm fall to the ground with a resounding and final 'thud' as it hit.

Cloud lifted his head, blank look on his face, trying to sort through emotions in his mind. He could feel the fresh smattering of blood on his face, and even taste the copper in his mouth. This wasn't a dream, this was real. He'd tried everything to save Zack, but he now knew he had failed. And there was Zack, looking up at him with eyes of adoration as he reached over for his sword. He wanted to shake Zack, tell him that he couldn't die. The world needed people like him. It was like the innocence and purity of the world were leaving with his friend. Hope was being shoved forcefully back into Pandora's box because humanity's sins were too great to handle the privilege. Yet, all Cloud could do was stare blankly, taking the sword by hand as Zack shoved it at him.

"My honor. My dreams." Zack paused, letting his words sink into Cloud one by one to be sure the blond fully understood. "They're yours now."

"I'm your. . .living legacy." Cloud's mind was a blur, his vision fading as well. The world was coming to an end. The only person he had been proud to call friend - no, his hero - was dying before his eyes. Cloud knew he was dying on that battle field just as certainly as Zack was, because without Zack, Cloud couldn't exist; he'd still be trapped, dying day by day, forever helpless. And the way Zack smiled up at him as he closed his eyes for the last time was beyond heart wrenching. The feelings coursing through Cloud's head were so intense they couldn't be put into words, only a low animalistic howl as he cried to the sky, the gods - to ShinRa. He felt like an animal, with no connection to the world any longer. It was okay, the world wasn't that great anyway.

Cloud collapsed next to Zack and when he awoke it was as if he now were living in a permanent haze. Everything around him was strange. He was covered in blood and there was a body next to him, but what did that mean? Nothing came straight to his mind, so he picked up what he knew to be his sword and left for what seemed to be a city ahead, somehow knowing instinctively the buzzards wouldn't be too far behind.

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A/N: Not gonna lie, I cry every time Zack dies. . . so I had to write what I was feeling, ya know? Anyway, I also felt like there were so many people out there who wish Cloud would give Zack a phoenix down, even though in reality it'd only bring him back from K/O, so there's another reason I had to write it.

Please review! I'd like to know what you think or if you'd like to read more.


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